Hampshire Alums Artist Elizabeth Atterbury 00F and Curator Kate M. McNamara 99F Join Forces for Exhibition
The Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA), in Rockland, is currently hosting Leaf Litter, an exhibition featuring the sculptures of Elizabeth Atterbury 00F and curated by Kate M. McNamara 99F.
Using wood, clay, stone, and metal, Atterbury’s featured objects include oversized hand fans, a giant sandal, and a pair of disembodied feet made from cracked glazed ceramic with rocks and shells along the toes titled “Second Feet (Molting).” Per McNamara’s exhibit notes, Atterbury “examines how objects carry traces of past lives and accumulate meaning over time...The objects in Leaf Litter are not static markers but sites of engagement with past, present, and future. By drawing viewers into this process, Atterbury positions her sculptures as living texts.”
It’s no coincidence that the two alums worked together on Leaf Litter. “We’ve known each other since our days at Hampshire, and it has been such a joy to reconnect,” says McManara. “Over the years we’ve followed each other’s careers, and when Elizabeth reached out about working together on this exhibition, it felt like no time had passed at all. We’ve had wonderful conversations about how Hampshire has shaped both of our careers and life paths, and we were delighted to realize that we actually shared the same Div III committee, with the beloved Professor Emerita of Art History Sura Levine and the late Robert Seydel. This exhibition has been such a joyful collaboration and has also reminded us of the truly foundational relationships we built at Hampshire.”
(Incidentally, there’s another Hampshire connection in this story: Jon Chodosh 72F P10 is chair of the board at CMCA.)
Atterbury, who is based in Portland, Maine, has exhibited widely, with solo shows at the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Colby College Museum of Art, in Waterville, Maine, to name just two, and her work is in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum, among others.
McNamara, based in Providence, is currently the interim John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University. She is also the founder of the contemporary art space ODD-KIN and curator-at-large for Providence’s public art organization My HomeCourt.
Leaf Litter is on display at CMCA, 21 Winter Street, Rockland, through September 7.
Photos by Kate Greene
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